SEOUL – The special counsel team led by Prosecutor Min Joong-ki has confirmed a mass sign-up of Unification Church members into the People Power Party (PPP) ahead of its national convention, intensifying suspicions of violations of the Political Parties Act. The special counsel is currently analyzing a significant amount of data to determine the extent of the alleged organized effort to support a specific "pro-Yoon" candidate during the March 2023 party convention.
The special counsel’s investigation has made significant progress after a recent raid. On the 18th, the team seized membership database records from a company managing the PPP’s membership lists in Yeouido, Seoul. This operation secured a list of approximately 110,000 individuals suspected of being Unification Church members. This list was cross-referenced with Unification Church member lists previously obtained from raids on the Unification Church's Korean headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, and its affiliate, the Universal Peace Federation (UPF). By comparing personal information such as birth dates and names, the team has been able to identify a substantial number of overlapping entries, while excluding duplicates.
The investigation is primarily focused on the allegation that the Unification Church orchestrated a large-scale sign-up of its followers to back Rep. Kwon Seong-dong for the party leader position in the 2023 convention. Previous prosecution investigations revealed text messages between Yoon Young-ho, former head of the Unification Church's world headquarters, and fortune-teller Jeon Seong-bae. In the messages, which date back to November 2022, Yoon inquired about the number of members needed for the convention, to which Jeon replied, "more than 10,000" and specified, "dues-paying members, who have paid for more than three months." This suggests a coordinated effort to secure "responsible party members," who are eligible to vote in the convention, by having them sign up starting in December 2022.
The potential impact of these new members on the convention results is a key area of interest. The PPP has approximately 5 million total members, with 740,000 being responsible party members eligible to vote. The 110,000 names identified by the special counsel are a significant number, even if not all of them are active members. A Unification Church official told a local newspaper on the 21st that the number of "true, active members" is around 70,000, excluding those who have left the church or whose names were simply listed for various events. The number of Unification Church members who reportedly joined the party just before the March 2023 convention is believed to be around 3,600.
While this figure might seem small compared to the total party membership, it could still constitute a violation of the Political Parties Act. The law explicitly states that "no person shall be coerced to join a political party against their free will." The special counsel is also looking into whether additional sign-ups occurred in anticipation of the 2024 general election, as Yoon had expressed a desire for a proportional representation seat for a Unification Church representative. The investigation is ongoing and could reveal further evidence of systemic manipulation of party membership.
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